Volcanism on Mars

Mariner 9 image of Ascraeus Mons.[1] This is one of the first images to show that Mars has large volcanoes.
THEMIS image of lava flows with lobate edges (from Arsia Mons volcano)
Using Earth to understand how water may have affected volcanoes on Mars

Volcanic activity, or volcanism, has played a significant role in the geologic evolution of Mars.[2] Scientists have known since the Mariner 9 mission in 1972 that volcanic features cover large portions of the Martian surface. These features include extensive lava flows, vast lava plains, and, such as Olympus Mons, the largest known volcanoes in the Solar System.[3][4] Martian volcanic features range in age from Noachian (>3.7 billion years) to late Amazonian (< 500 million years), indicating that the planet has been volcanically active throughout its history,[5] and some speculate it probably still is so today.[6][7][8] Both Mars and Earth are large, differentiated planets built from similar chondritic materials.[9] Many of the same magmatic processes that occur on Earth also occurred on Mars, and both planets are similar enough compositionally that the same names can be applied to their igneous rocks.

  1. ^ "History". www.jpl.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 3 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  2. ^ Head, J.W. (2007). The Geology of Mars: New Insights and Outstanding Questions in The Geology of Mars: Evidence from Earth-Based Analogs, Chapman, M., Ed; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge UK, p. 10.
  3. ^ Masursky, H.; Masursky, Harold; Saunders, R. S. (1973). "An Overview of Geological Results from Mariner 9". J. Geophys. Res. 78 (20): 4009–4030. Bibcode:1973JGR....78.4031C. doi:10.1029/JB078i020p04031.
  4. ^ Carr, Michael H. (1973). "Volcanism on Mars". Journal of Geophysical Research. 78 (20): 4049–4062. Bibcode:1973JGR....78.4049C. doi:10.1029/JB078i020p04049.
  5. ^ Michalski, Joseph R.; Bleacher, Jacob E. (3 October 2013). "Supervolcanoes within an ancient volcanic province in Arabia Terra, Mars". Nature. 502 (7469): 46–52. Bibcode:2013Natur.502...47M. doi:10.1038/nature12482. hdl:2060/20140011237. PMID 24091975. S2CID 4152458.
  6. ^ Carr 2006, p. 43
  7. ^ "Hunting for young lava flows". Geophysical Research Letters. Red Planet. 1 June 2011. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  8. ^ "An Ancient Meteorite Is The First Chemical Evidence of Volcanic Convection on Mars". Meteoritics & Planetary Science. ScienceAlert. 11 May 2020.
  9. ^ Carr, 2006, p. 44.